In Episode 8 of Journey Through the Song, Sam and Debbie step into a breathtaking wedding scene from the Song of Solomon where anticipation builds and love is put on full display. As the bride is escorted to her groom, this moment reveals the beauty, honor, and sacredness of marriage as God designed it. More than just a celebration, this episode highlights the value of commitment, protection, and the joy of a love that is cherished and publicly affirmed, pointing us to an even greater wedding yet to come.

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Welcome to the Fortifying youg Family podcast.

It can be daunting to navigate through an anti marriage and family culture.

Our teacher will expound biblical principles to help fortify our families and keep these sacred institutions strong.

And now, here's this week's teaching from Sam Wood.

Well, welcome back again to our journey through the Song of Songs.

And we're excited to be once again with you.

We continue through this beautiful, beautiful song, the song of all songs.

Let me remind you that in our last session, we looked at a recurring dream that the Shulamite had during their courtship.

And the dream really centered around her concern for the king's occupation, that is, that he wasn't going to be there very much and she was going to be left all alone and she would be separated from him as he was pursuing his duty as a king of Israel.

And in that dream, she actually came up with this proactive plan of how she would handle this little fox if it popped up in the future.

And she also gave a second warning to singles about stirring up love until they get married.

And so they've really been very transparent and open with each other, had these open conversations about these little foxes.

And I know it was a struggle for them to remain sexually pure.

But now, finally, finally the day has come.

And in the scene we're looking at this week and tonight, we're looking at Solomon, and he's coming to get his bride.

It's their wedding day and we see a wedding processional.

And really it's a flashback that chronologically happens before Song of Solomon, chapter one and verses one, two, three.

So we're seeing the wedding procession.

The chorus opens the scene and they ask this question in verses six and seven of chapter three, they say, who is this that cometh out of the wilderness like pillows of smoke perfumed with myrrh and frankincense, with all powders of the merchant.

Behold his bed, which is Solomon's.

Threescore valiant men are about it of the valiant of Israel.

Solomon had planned this magnificent and majestic parade for his wedding processional.

Now picture in your mind, in your mind's eye of all the friends and all the family.

They're lining the streets to watch.

They can hardly wait.

The smoke is.

That's referenced here is perhaps a reference to the incense that's burning at the beginning of the parade and maybe toward the end of it, as this parade is proceeding to happen for this wedding,.

All eyes are focused on that, on this magnificent scene.

And the elaborateness and the.

The attention to detail highlights the real significance of this, of what is actually a rite of passage.

And the entire community is there, they're participating, they're celebrating.

And these two individual lives are about to experience the biggest and the most important next level of life, their rite of passage.

And this is true of every wedding, no matter the size of the celebration.

Yeah.

So the course continues the description.

Let's look back at it again.

Again at verse seven.

She says, behold his bed, which is Solomon's threescore valiant men, or 60 valiant men are about it of the valiant of Israel.

Then she says in verse eight, they're all whole swords.

Being expert in war, every man hath his sword upon his thigh because of fear in the night.

So the better couch was built and sent by Solomon to go get his bride and bring her back to the palace.

And she is reclining on this during this parade, in this journey back to the palace, as she's being carried there on two poles, which were typically carried by four to six men as they're marching through the wilderness to take her to Solomon.

We've all seen this in the movies.

You got these big strong men with the poles across their shoulders and they're carrying.

It's like a moving stone stage.

And it's got this elegant lady, she's leaning back on a high backed couch that it's stretched out kind of like a lounger.

Then adding to all this mystery and romance is this cloud of sweet smelling incense.

And this probably was one of Solomon's special touches just to make the occasion even more momentous, you know.

And it's very interesting that it adds there as the course is looking.

It says the journey that led through the wilderness from Lebanon to Jerusalem, Solomon took special care to make sure that she was protected.

It says he sent 60 of his warriors that had swords.

They were traveling with her to the palace.

He wanted to make sure that she was safe.

And I mean, on this journey there could be wild animals, there could be thieves, there could be robbers, there could be all kinds of danger that could happen.

So he wanted to make sure that she arrived very safely.

And let me just pause and say this too, that one of God's given purposes for a husband is to protect his wife.

We really see it as early in Genesis chapter 2 in verse 15, when God says the Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it.

And the word keep means to guard or to protect.

Or also I think of Ephesians chapter 5 and verse 29, where a husband is called to nourish his wife as Christ does the church.

Part of nourishing your wife is to provide for her, but it also means to protect her.

So, like Solomon, a husband is to protect his wife.

And he does that by anticipating, as Solomon did, he anticipated ahead of time any danger that could happen to his bride on that processional.

And as a husband, I'm to anticipate any dangers that could come to you, my wife, physically, emotionally, or even spiritually.

And see, I know you took this seriously because Sam, I mean, he gave me four big boys, you know, for protection.

As a matter of fact, I have two sons that are 6, 3, 6, 4.

I mean, they're big guys.

I've always felt safe.

But Sam didn't think that was enough.

So he got me these four big dogs.

I mean, English mastiffs, all of them.

Now, eventually we downsized to just one dog and he was about 170 pound, English master, he was big.

But Thor, he was like one of these 60 warriors.

Everywhere I went, he was right by my side.

Literally.

If I was working in the office, he laid at my feet.

If I went to the kitchen, he followed me there.

Hey, but my favorite part, if I answered the door, his big old head was right there, waist high.

It's pretty intimidating.

See, nobody mess with me.

Nobody.

But providing protection, hey, this increases a woman's security.

It makes her feel cherished and loved, you know.

And what Solomon's doing is he's conveying to everyone who's watching this parade, all the onlookers, that he deeply cares for his bride and that she's really priceless to him.

Yeah.

And, you know, the rest of the bridal party was probably traditionally traveling behind the bride.

And I feel like her mom and her guardians, you know, her brother guardians, they were getting the message from Solomon that, I'm going to take care of your little girl.

I love her, I care about her.

You can count on me to protect her.

This is a message, really.

Every groom, a young man that's going to marry a young lady should present to her parents that he's going to take care of her.

Now, I'm not recommending that he show up in your wedding with a group of ninjas on the day of the wedding or something like that.

But, you know, sometime during the engagement period, I think it's good for him to have us maybe have a sit down with the parents of his bride and just say, listen, I want to let you know she's precious to me and I'm going to protect her physically.

Emotionally and spiritually.

I know that she's your little girl, and she's going to be my wife and dad.

Listen, I'm going to protect your little girl.

They need to hear that.

Don't you think it's important?

I think it's so important.

Well, look at verse 10 as we continue.

It says in verse 10, he made the pillows thereof of silver, the bottom thereof of gold, the covering of it purple, the mist thereof being paved with love for the daughters of Jerusalem.

You know, this describes Solomon's sedan chair, you know, that he is riding in.

It's laid with gold and decorated with flowers, is draped with beautiful canopies.

I mean, he's rich.

He can afford all this.

And he wrote this.

He's writing in this to meet his bride in this entourage, you might say.

And can't you imagine him sitting up straight?

And I can imagine as she's coming to meet him, that he's looking out.

He can hardly wait to get a glimpse of her as she's coming towards him.

You know, it's pretty exciting to think about.

And, you know, other translations say that the interior to the carriage he was in was fitted out by the daughters of Jerusalem.

And this reminds me of how when a couple in our church would get married and all the ladies and even some of the guys I know you helped out a number of times, they get together and chip in everybody and then help decorate for the ceremony and for the reception.

We'd spend hours sometimes arranging flowers and setting up tables and draping sheer fabric, you know.

But we did this many hours.

Many times.

Many hours.

But we did it because we love this couple.

We wanted their evening to be the most special it could be.

Absolutely.

And you know, girls, typically, they'll start planning their wedding, their dream wedding, by the time they're about 10.

And I think it's really sweet that the people that really care about them can help make that happen.

It's a group effort.

You know, I like what Philip Reichen says about this.

It's just a wonderful statement.

And I'm quoting him here.

He says every godly wedding is a royal wedding.

Since God is a great king, whenever one of his sons marries one of his daughters, it's the marriage of a prince and a princess.

Isn't it beautiful?

That's really a beautiful statement.

I love it.

And it's not just the community and the bride that views a wedding that way as the marriage of a prince and princess.

Note in the scripture that Sam read, the special attention the groom gives to this Event.

Hey, he's not just enduring this ceremony.

He's proud to show off his bride.

He's really declaring her value, how special she is to him.

And so single guys, listen, when you get married, you need to make this a special occasion.

And you need to be willing to be actively involved in the planning and festivities.

I mean, a lot of single guys, when they gonna get married, it's like, okay, we're gonna be married on such and such a date, it's all yours.

You know, it's.

I'm turning it over to you.

Do you want the singles?

Listen, guys, you need to be involved in the planning and festivities too.

And it declares that this is a very precious time to you and that your bride is precious to you.

And parents need to be involved in this encouragement of their sons to take part in the wedding ceremony and planning of the wedding ceremony.

As far as all the planning, like Solomon was doing here with his beautiful wedding reception, look at verse 11.

Go forth, O ye daughters of Zion, and behold King Solomon with the crown wherewith his mother crowned him in the day of his espousals and in the day of the gladness of his heart.

You know, this is the chorus.

And again, they're calling together the whole community to celebrate.

And it makes me think how you explain Hebrews 13:4, that marriage is to be honorable among all.

And that means every adult, every teen, every young person should know that marriage is sacred and it's to be celebrated.

You know, and what a perfect opportunity it is.

I know a lot of times before I do a wedding, I just say this is an opportunity to present the gospel, the beautiful picture of Christ and the church.

And it's an opportunity when your family attends a wedding, to explain to young children how holy and significant marriage is to God, which we desperately need to do in this day and time that we're living in.

So this is a great opportunity to show how beautiful marriage is and how sacred and holy it is to God.

It makes young people as they're growing up, they understand that marriage is.

It's.

They hold it in a higher esteem if they do that.

Now, the passage also mentions a crown that Solomon was wearing.

And this wasn't his royal crown, but it was a crown of garland.

And his mother Bathsheba had given him this crown.

And this signified that she was rejoicing over this occasion.

And I think it's telling us that young couples should seek the blessing of their parents upon their marriage.

Yeah.

How much you enter marriage with much more confidence, knowing that your Parents are giving their blessing upon the marriage.

And parents should be involved and not only just to express concerns of potential thoughts like we talked about in the previous sessions, but to welcome their new son in law or daughter in law into the family.

And it's like they're saying, we celebrate.

Your union, you know.

Also another thing I think it's important to point out here is that Solomon and the Shulamite, like all biblical examples, they're publicly attesting their marriage.

It's in public.

It's not hidden.

It's not a hidden ceremony.

It's out for the community to see celebrate with them.

And couples sometimes who say private vows and they want to have a private ceremony, they're really not following the biblical example of a public celebration of marriage like we see here, you know?

Right.

And we encourage couples, if you desire to have a private ceremony with a preacher, just also make some type of public announcement or have a reception later.

And this is an event the entire community should celebrate and endorse for you, Reverend.

So what a beautiful scene this is as we look in this session at this royal wedding procession preparing for the day at the palace of their wedding ceremony.

But you know, as I close this session, I can't but not but rejoice greatly in the thought that one day, one day our groom, Jesus Christ will meet us.

He will take us to the marriage supper of the Lamb.

I love what it says in Revelations, chapter 19 and verse 7.

It says, Let us be glad and rejoice and give honor to him.

For the marriage of the Lamb is come.

And his wife hath made herself ready.

And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen.

Isn't this beautiful?

Clean and white.

For the fine linen is the righteousness of the saints.

And he saith unto me, write, blessed are they which are called unto the marriage saint.

Supper of the Lamb.

As magnificent and glorious as Solomon's wedding processional and wedding was, as we've looked at today.

Listen, it's not going to compare to the day when the saints of God are escorted into the marriage supper of the Lamb.

We'll never, ever have to worry about being alone, never have to worry about being separated from our Jesus Christ.

Listen.

For we will forever be in his glorious presence.

Just, just stop and think about that being the presence of God forever with our groom, Jesus Christ.

Well, I hope you've been blessed through this session.

And if you have, I hope you will continue to share these sessions with your friends, your church, others around you.

And let me just say till next time.

May the grace and peace and protection of our heavenly bridegroom be with you.

God bless you.

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